The Metro Baseball League (MBL) and Minnesota Baseball Tournaments (MBT) have now finalized bat requirements for the 2018 season, and they are officially changing to the new USA Bat standards.

The USSSA-stamped bats that have been used for the past several years will no longer be legal in MBL league play or MBT-sanctioned tournaments.

This change in bat standards will impact all Burnsville Traveling Baseball players for the upcoming season.

What this means for your player:

10-13u: All bats must carry the new “USA Bat” stamp. All USA Bats will be either 2 1/4 or 2 5/8 inches in diameter (no 2 ¾ inch bats will be available or allowed). The largest allowed “drop” in bat weight is -11. Any drop greater than that will not be allowed. Any bat that does not carry the USA Bat stamp will be considered illegal. That means any USSSA-stamped bat used in league or tournament play in 2017 will not be valid for use in 2018 MBL/MBT play.

14u: All bats must be either a drop 5 (-5) bat with a USA Bat stamp, or a BBCOR bat with a drop 3 (-3). BBCOR bats do not require a USA Bat stamp.

15u: All bats will continue to meet the BBCOR -3 standard.

MYAS, which runs the Gopher State league and year-end state tournament, voted to NOT switch to the new USA Bat certification.

What that means is that the USSSA-stamped bats that have been used for many years will remain legal in a tournament hosted by a Gopher State community and will also be legal in the Gopher State Tournament.

So if your son has a USSSA bat from this past season, you should hang onto it in case you play in any of those tournaments.

**PLEASE NOTE: A USA Bat (or BBCOR at 14/15u) will be required for BTB tryouts in March.